Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. Based on Earth's five previous mass extinction events, it's more likely that carbon dioxide will kill us all. By consulting researchers and examining the fossil record, science journalist Peter Brannen discovers that although the delivery method may differ (volcanoes, ocean acidification, asteroid impacts), the result is the same: spikes in CO2 levels that render the planet uninhabitable. Brannen's accessible presentation of complex issues make this sobering book a good bet for fans of Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction.

In Beyond Infinity, musician, chef, and mathematician Eugenia Cheng answers this question by taking readers on a startling journey from math at its most elemental to its loftiest abstractions. Beginning with the classic thought experiment of Hilbert's hotel-the place where you can (almost) always find a room, if you don't mind being moved from room to room over the course of the night-she explores the wild and woolly world of the infinitely large and the infinitely small. Along the way she considers weighty questions like why some numbers are uncountable or why infinity plus one is not the same as one plus infinity. She finds insight in some unlikely examples: planning a dinner party for 7 billion people using a chessboard, making a chicken-sandwich sandwich, and creating infinite cookies from a finite ball of dough all tell you more about math than you could have imagined.

A human ovum (egg) is about the size of the period at the end of this sentence, which no doubt explains why scientists spent 400 years searching for one. (Sperm cells were much easier to see, thanks to Antonie van Leeuwenhoek's microscopes.) In this eye-opening historical look at the science of sex and reproduction, author Edward Dolnick recounts the centuries-long quest on the part of Europe's greatest scientific minds to discover how babies are made, while detailing in highly entertaining fashion the many detours and missteps along the way.

CRISPR-Cas9 is a genome editing technique that makes possible permanent modifications within an organism's DNA. However, the scientists who discovered this "molecular machine" argue that we shouldn't use it without first addressing the serious bioethical issues involved. This balanced and accessible book describes the research that led to this groundbreaking discovery and examines the potential applications (and implications) of a revolutionary new technology.

In 1993, Alaskan artist and paleo-shark enthusiast Ray Troll stumbled upon the weirdest fossil he had ever seen—a platter-sized spiral of tightly wound shark teeth. This chance encounter in the basement of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County sparked Troll’s obsession with Helicoprion, a mysterious monster from deep time.In 2010, tattooed undergraduate student and returning Iraq War veteran Jesse Pruitt became seriously smitten with a Helicoprion fossil in a museum basement in Idaho. These two bizarre-shark disciples found each other, and an unconventional band of collaborators grew serendipitously around them, determined to solve the puzzle of the mysterious tooth whorl once and for all. Just a few tumultuous years after Pruitt and Troll met, imagination, passion, scientific process, and state-of-the-art technology merged into an unstoppable force that reanimated the remarkable creature—and made important new discoveries.

At 5:36 p.m. on March 27, 1964, a magnitude 9.2. earthquake – the second most powerful in world history – struck the young state of Alaska. The violent shaking, followed by massive tsunamis, devastated the southern half of the state and killed more than 130 people. A day later, George Plafker, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, arrived to investigate. His fascinating scientific detective work in the months that followed helped confirm the then-controversial theory of plate tectonics. In a compelling tale about the almost unimaginable brute force of nature, New York Times science journalist Henry Fountain combines history and science to bring the quake and its aftermath to life in vivid detail. With deep, on-the-ground reporting from Alaska, often in the company of George Plafker, Fountain shows how the earthquake left its mark on the land and its people -- and on science.

At least two amazing events happen during childbirth.There’s the obvious main event, which is the emergence of a new human into the world. But there’s another event taking place simultaneously, a crucial event that is not visible to the naked eye, an event that could determine the lifelong health of the baby. This is the seeding of the baby’s microbiome, the community of “good” bacteria that we carry with us throughout our lives. The seeding of the microbiome, along with breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact, kick-starts the baby’s immune system and helps protect the infant from disease across a lifetime. Researchers are discovering, however, that interventions such as the use of synthetic oxytocin, antibiotics, C-sections, and formula feeding interfere with, or bypass completely, the microbial transfer from mother to baby. These bacteria are vital for human health, and science has linked an imbalance in the human microbiome with multiple chronic diseases.

Most of us are clueless when it comes to the physics that makes our modern world so convenient. What’s the simple science behind motion sensors, touch screens, and toasters? How do we glide through tolls using an E-Z Pass, or find our way to new places using GPS? In The Physics of Everyday Things, James Kakalios takes us on an amazing journey into the subatomic marvels that underlie so much of what we use and take for granted. Breaking down the world of things into a single day, Kakalios engages our curiosity about how our refrigerators keep food cool, how a plane manages to remain airborne, and how our wrist fitness monitors keep track of our steps. Each explanation is coupled with a story revealing the interplay of the astonishing invisible forces that surround us

With every breath, you literally inhale the history of the world. On the ides of March, 44 BC, Julius Caesar died of stab wounds on the Senate floor, but the story of his last breath is still unfolding; in fact, you're probably inhaling some of it now. Of the sextillions of molecules entering or leaving your lungs at this moment, some might well bear traces of Cleopatra's perfumes, German mustard gas, particles exhaled by dinosaurs or emitted by atomic bombs, even remnants of stardust from the universe's creation. Tracing the origins and ingredients of our atmosphere, Kean reveals how the alchemy of air reshaped our continents, steered human progress, powered revolutions, and continues to influence everything we do. Along the way, we'll swim with radioactive pigs, witness the most important chemical reactions humans have discovered, and join the crowd at the Moulin Rouge for some of the crudest performance art of all time.

Blending science and autobiography, cognitive neuroscientist Adrian Owen recounts personal experiences (his mother's death from cancer, a former partner's brain aneurysm) that prompted him to explore the "gray zone" between consciousness and brain death. In addition to introducing readers to the basics of neuroscience, Owen shares intriguing research findings that reveal that 15 to 20 percent of patients in vegetative states are partially or fully conscious but physically unable to respond to stimuli. Into the Gray Zone is must-read for anyone fascinated by the human brain and its many mysteries.

When Indonesia's Mount Tambora erupted in 1815, locals couldn't help but be aware of the cataclysm, which killed 12,000 people and caused 100 million tons of sulfuric acid to rain down on the archipelago. However, the rest of the world barely noticed until the following year, when global weather patterns changed severely, causing famines and food riots, epidemics and mass emigration. This joint effort by a historian and a meteorologist uses documentary sources to trace the environmental and geopolitical impact of the volcanic eruption, as well as some of the disaster's less obvious consequences, such as Mary Shelley's decision to stay indoors and write Frankenstein.

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Japan caused a tsunami that flooded the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, resulting in the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. This suspenseful account vividly recreates the event, offering lessons that could help prevent future catastrophes. Fukushima may interest readers of Sheri Fink's Five Days at Memorial, another disturbing work of long-form investigative reporting that examines how natural disasters can be compounded and exacerbated by human error.

The single most powerful natural disaster in U.S. history occurred on May 18, 1980, when Washington's Mount St. Helens erupted, killing 57 people while scattering ash over 11 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces. Eruption provides a tense real-time account of the catastrophe, from the first seismic rumblings to the volcano's eruption and its deadly aftermath, while painting a vivid portrait of the Pacific Northwest's history and culture.